FLAT ROCK NC - CONNEMARA, BLUE RIDGE BOOKFEST

If you have not been to Connemara, Carl Sandburg's home, be sure to put it on your list of places to visit. Barry and I spent a day there and loved it. Go now before the weather gets hot and enjoy the grounds, especially the goat herd.
The North Carolina Art's Council newsletter came today and here are a couple of things happening in Flat Rock, NC, Henderson County.

Poet Carl Sandburg spent the last 22 years of his life in North Carolina and these years were among his most productive. Connemara, his home in Flat Rock, is now a national historic site. As a condition of making the designation, Sandburg's widow required that the rooms and furnishings be kept exactly as they were at the time of his death. Visitors to the comfy lived-in home will feel as if the family just stepped out for a while. For more information, visit www.nps.gov/carl.


BLUE RIDGE BOOKFEST IN FLAT ROCK
While you're in town, visit the fourth annual Blue Ridge Bookfest on the campus of Blue Ridge Community College, Friday and Saturday, May 18 and 19. The free literary festival features presentations from 15 authors including Charlotte mystery writer Mark de Castrique and Villas poet Joseph Bathanti. Visit www.blueridgebookfest.org/bookfest for a complete schedule.

Last year a group of Netwest members gave a panel discussion at Blue Ridge Bookfest. We had a great time. Met many writers and people who love to read.
This event started as a small thing, but boy, has it grown. If you can make it, be sure to attend.

Want a good laugh? Watch Betty White's TV show, Off Their Rockers. It's a hoot.

Voices from Echoes Across the Blue Ridge

May 20, 21 I will be in Hendersonville, NC for the Blue Ridge Bookfest held annually at Blue Ridge Community College. Bill Ramsey who heads up the event says it is going to be one of the best ever.
Seven of us will host a panel discussion - Voices from Echoes Across the Blue Ridge - with panelists Jayne Jaudon Ferrer, Rosemary Royston, Nancy Simpson, Lana Hendershott, Nancy Purcell, and JC Walkup giving their thoughts and advice on publishing and Echoes Across the Blue Ridge, anthology published by Winding Path Publishing for NCWN West.

Ann B. Ross, author of the famous Julia series, is special guest of honor at the reception Friday evening. Bill says they plan a dramatization of one of her books. I might have to wear my mask because of the perfume in the room, but I plan to be there.


The bookfest is free to the public. Look for the Netwest table and take home a copy of Echoes across the Blue Ridge, signed by all of our panelists. I hope to see you there. You might also want to pick up a copy of Now Might as Well be Then, my poetry chapbook.

Blue Ridge Bookfest

We will be participating in the Blue Ridge Bookfest this year. Click to see last year's news and come back soon to see the 2011 update.
Ron Rash will be a presenter at this event for authors. Don't miss it.
Blue Ridge Bookfest at Flatrock Community College in Henderson County, NC. Dates: May 21 and 22, 2011.

Nancy Simpson whose latest book is Living Above the Frost Line, will teach a poetry workshop on Friday afternoon.
A group of writers whose work is published in Echoes Across the Blue Ridge will participate in a panel discussion at the Bookfest on Saturday. Among those participating will be Rosemary Royston, poet and Program Coordinator for Netwest, Karen Holmes, published poet and editor of the Netwest News, Nancy Simpson, poet and teacher. Also on the panel will be Nancy Purcell, well-published writer and teacher and Netwest Rep for Transylvania County, NC, Lana Hendershott, Netwest Rep for Henderson County, NC who writes and publishes short stories, and JC Walkup, publisher of Fresh, a literary magazine. I will moderate the panel which will share their expertise on writing and publishing. Echoes Across the Blue Ridge will be on sale at the bookfest and a number of the authors will be present to sign copies.

See the Website or contact Bill Ramsey for more information.

Too Busy for Facebook

Tonight I deactivated my Facebook page. I just don't have time to keep it up with all that is happening in my life these days.

We have sent the manuscript of Echoes Across the Blue Ridge, the anthology of NCWN West, to the printer. On some days it seemed we'd never reach this day. Our editor and her close assistant have toiled many hours to bring this book project to fruition. As marketing director for the book, my work is just beginning.

I had hoped we would have the book by June 4 for the Blue Ridge Bookfest in Flat Rock, NC, but now it seems we might not make the deadline. I will be at the bookfest, however, and we will have books to sell including my poetry book and Joyce Foster's book, Painted Leaves. Of Joyce's book, Kathryn Byer said it was the most beautiful poetry book she had ever seen. I agree.

Next weekend, May 15, we will have a table at the Candy Maier Scholarship Foundation Book Fair in Asheville. The Candy Fund was set up in memory of Candy Maier, a writer who passed away from breast cancer. In the first few years they had more money than they could give away. But as they have become known throughout the western NC mountains, their scholarships have paid for a number of western NC women to attend workshops and conferences on writing.

Few realize that the Candy Fund can help western NC women who want to attend writing classes at John C. Campbell Folk School. Visit the Candy Fund website and see if you might qualify for financial help to attend a class there.